PESHWAR: Every day, 15-year-old Mashal Khan, a sixth-grade student, walks three kilometres from his home to his government high school in Jalala. The journey takes him longer than other children and is especially arduous because he was born with disability in both feet. “It is very difficult for
Not all parents have an equal chance of success at saving their child from a fatal illness. Unfortunately, while fate determines lifespan, so does geography. According to experts, childhood cancer survival rates exceed 80 per cent in wealthy countries but in low- and middle-income countries, such as Pakistan,
PAKISTAN’S health sector is no longer merely under strain, it is in complete disarray. The Pakistan Medical Association’s Health of the Nation 2026 report reveals a crisis that has long festered, is preventable and most worryingly, normalised. The numbers should jolt policymakers: 675 newborns and 27 mothers die
The teacher was halfway through explaining a lesson when she suddenly stopped. A piece of chalk slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor as her eyes fixed on a child sitting in the corner of the classroom. The boy had begun rocking his chair back and
JUST when we thought Pakistan had made meaningful progress and the debate on child marriage was nearly settled, a spanner has been thrown into the spokes of reform. Four years after the Federal Shariat Court’s ruling in 2021 that setting a minimum marriage age is not in contradiction
LAHORE: Railway stations across Pakistan are increasingly becoming refuge points for children fleeing troubled homes, as poverty, domestic tensions, corporal punishment, and the influence of social media push minors onto the streets. According to official data shared by Pakistan Railways Police, 658 children, including 413 boys and 245
The population of stray dogs in Karachi has been steadily increasing for quite a few years, with no humane plan of action in place to control it. Multiple attacks, injuries and deaths are reported every year, yet the government remains clueless in ensuring both prevention and timely treatment. This
Pakistan’s sixth and seventh periodic review before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), held in Geneva on January 15-16, 2026, marked an important moment of reflection and accountability, examining progress made since the previous review in 2016. More than a formal reporting obligation,
The State of the World’s Children 2025 warns that global progress in reducing child poverty is slowing and risks reversal due to conflict, climate shocks, debt pressures and deep cuts in development aid. About 412 million children live in extreme monetary poverty, while 417 million face severe deprivation
Earlier this month, a newborn baby was found abandoned in a garbage bin in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Town. Police have been informed, and legal proceedings are expected, though the baby’s condition remains undisclosed. For a society that claims reverence for life, the image of a newborn discarded among
Medical negligence in Pakistan is often discussed in the abstract — as a system failure, a resource constraint or an unfortunate by-product of poverty. But when nearly 4,000 children in Sindh are living with HIV, many of them infected not at birth or through personal behaviour but in healthcare
A few days ago, I watched a boy no older than 10 or 12 dragging a sack of garbage larger than his own body. He was doing what thousands of children across Pakistan do every day, collecting recyclable waste to earn a living. Suddenly, several street dogs began